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My book, THE STARLIGHT PRINCE, is 25% off as part of Ream's Love After Dark: Spooky & Speculative Romance group promo! 🖤
The promotion runs from October 15 – November 1, exclusively on Ream Stories.
So grab yourself a spooky, sexy bargain today! 🦇📚
https://reamstories.com/group-promos/love-after-dark-spooky-speculative-romance
Hey Besties!
It’s story central on Inkitt for me this week!
First, two new chapters of Kiss Me After The Kill have been added.
After hearing Azrael’s truth, Lucia makes some important decisions about her own future…👀
➡️You can read chapter 12 & 13 here: https://www.inkitt.com/stories/1685437
I also added my space romantasy, The Starbound Lovers collection to Inkitt. The novella Starlight and Stolen Secrets is fully complete with all chapters added. It can be found here: https://www.inkitt.com/stories/1719899
And the novel, The Starlight Prince will have daily updates for the next month. You can read it here: https://www.inkitt.com/stories/1719916
As always, if you want the next chapter the moment it drops, all you have to do is join the KMATK update list and step inside Azrael’s Inner Sanctum — where you’ll get:
🩸 Weekly chapter links (so you never miss an update)
🖤 Sneak peeks of what’s coming next
✨ Early news (including the Amazon release once the serial is complete)
Join Azrael’s Inner Sanctum here: https://2e2f8d.share-eu1.hsforms.com/2q6pua8QzTFeB1bLU-gSbRA
Hope everyone has a wonderful weekend.
I’ll be back in a week with another KMATK update.
T.T.F.N
Clare
April has been a month of finding my way back—focusing on health, rebuilding energy, and getting things moving again.
I’ve continued posting Kiss Me After the Kill, celebrated new releases of The Starlight Prince and Starlight and Stolen Secrets, and started planning future romantasy projects.
Read them here: https://www.inkitt.com/ClareDugmore
I also celebrated 16 years of marriage, enjoyed special family time, and may have found a new hobby in loom knitting.
Sometimes progress looks quiet—but it still counts.
Read the full April update here:
👉 https://claredugmore.com/blog/the-april-i-started-finding-my-way-back
What if your spell for love called someone from the stars? ✨
The Starlight Prince turns one on 25 March, and to celebrate, I’m running an anniversary Countdown Deal from 25–28 March.
Starts at 99p / 99c 💫
A hunted witch on Earth.
A shapeshifting alien prince bound by fate.
A love story for outsiders trying to find where they belong.
Grab it here: https://books2read.com/TheStarlightPrince
About The Starlight Prince
One spell. One ancient ritual. One fated collision between a runaway witch and an alien prince.
Madelyne has spent her life being hunted for her magic and hiding from a world that wants her burned. Desperate for a place to belong, she casts a full moon spell for love—never expecting a shapeshifting alien prince to crash into her life.
Kalas, heir to a galactic throne, has waited years to complete the divine ritual to find his fated mate. When a celestial vision leads him to Earth, he discovers Maddie: powerful, guarded, and completely unlike anyone he's ever known.
Drawn across the stars into a world of royal politics, ancient prophecies, and godly intervention, Maddie must decide whether she’s ready to embrace her destiny—or fight for a freedom she’s never known.
With passion that defies galaxies and a love that challenges fate, can two outsiders find their home in each other?
A spicy sci-fantasy romance with a HEA, fierce loyalty, emotional vulnerability, and bitey alien courtship
Greetings Readers!
It feels like ages since I did a proper update, so here it is.
First, I want to thank everyone who supported the release of THE STARLIGHT PRINCE. The book was a long time coming, and as I've previously mentioned, I feel immensely proud of all I achieved by writing it, as much of the process coincided with my autism and ADHD journey.
Even to the last minute, things were hectic, as I pushed back my release by a month to give myself more time to focus on the final developmental edits. And while I was doing that, I had some real-life changes. I won't go into detail, because it's not my story to share, but the TL:DR is my 22-year-old child is back living with us, after almost five years away from home. I hate the circumstances of their return, but I won't lie, it's great having them back! We're all settling into our new normal now, and my head feels clearer, and I'm more able to focus on writing-related things again.
On the topic of The Starlight Prince, in case you didn't see my previous post, during April, I will be taking part in the A-Z Blogging Challenge. Every day (except Sundays), I'll be sharing excerpts and tidbits about the book. Each day I will choose a commenter at random to receive free digital copies of both The Starlight Prince, and it's prequel novella The Adventures of Josain Jovenne. And there will also be a month-long Rafflecopter giveaway in which you can win a signed paperback copy of The Starlight Prince, and some swag like postcards of the character art I had commissioned.
Greetings Readers Old and New!
Happy 2025! I hope the new year is off to an amazing start for you all.
2025 is off to a great start for me, as I'm making steady progress on THE STARLIGHT PRINCE, ready to send it to my editor near the end of January! I can't wait for you all to read my first novel since 2020!
In fact, I'm SO eager to share, this issue contains a FREE three-chapter sample.
Read on for how to claim the sample, other important news and a little glimpse into how I spent the holidays.
Greetings readers!
It seems I'm about a month early in the typical New Year's looking back and planning for the future that many people do at the end of the year. This is a good thing, as the WH, WN Community is starting a new goal-setting event this coming Monday (December 2nd).
A quick side-note on the WH,WN Community. Karen is currently offering a 'Black Friday' discount which includes:
How these pertain specifically to my writing career is that my main creative outlet is writing, and I plan to use the money I make from writing to fund not only life with my family and friends but to also donate to causes important to me if I can. My ultimate goal is to create a community of like-minded creatives who come together to encourage, support, and celebrate not only each other but also causes that are important to them.
I feel like I am already achieving some aspects of this by being part of the WH,WN Community and contributing to charity anthologies etc. Plus donating to other causes (St. Judes etc.)
I also feel like I have made huge strides this year in maintaining focus and motivation towards my goals. I've written 52,000 words on The Starlight Prince, and it's on track for release in February. I wrote and released a 30k words reader magnet. I've participated in two anthologies and one collection, and I've written about ~28k on other projects that may or may not be published in the future.
Edit to add: Holy shit! I just added the total of everything I've written this year, and I've written about 130, 000 words!! Go me!
I've done all this while dealing with various mental and physical health issues.
So, yes, I feel like I have made progress towards my goals and my 'North Star' points. I am very proud of what I've achieved -- especially remaining consistent with TSP, while fitting in other projects to keep the dopamine flowing.
Before I started ADHD coaching, I used to beat myself up for all my unfinished stories, all the serials etc. I felt I flaked out on. I don't feel like that anymore. I set myself goals, and I achieved them. If there are times I've set aside a story (like The Last Magic Shop) I feel there's been a genuine reason for that.
I feel confident that I've learned enough about how my brain and body work that I can continue with this goal-setting, and working towards what I want from my writing career.
With that in mind, I've taken a look at both what things I've already signed up for in 2025, and what stories are resonating with me, and come up with a writing/release schedule that will see me through to about July 2026.
Here's what I have planned:
Looking at my plans, I just noticed a pattern, too. 2025 is the year of spicy romance, speculative fiction, where as my two planned releases for 2026 are LGBTQA+ romance, speculative fiction. I wonder, should my third release for 2026 also be LGBTQA+ romance, speculative fiction? Maybe another Moonlit Crossroads Saga?
That's certainly something to think about for the future. :D
I think that's about it for this issue. I'm going to go and work on The Starlight Prince for a while.
Until next time,
Take care and stay creative.
T.T.F.N
I'm so excited to finally reveal the cover for my forthcoming spicy, science-fiction romance THE STARLIGHT PRINCE, and announce that you can now pre-order your copy ahead of release on 25 February 2025.
ABOUT
A love story written in the stars.
Hunted for being a witch, Madelyne longs for somewhere to belong and performs a full moon spell to find her true love.
Across the galaxy, Kalas completes the aeons-old celestial ritual to show him the location of his fated mate. Enchanted by Madelyne’s beauty, Kalas flies to Earth to find her.
And, with nothing left for her on Earth, Madelyne agrees to accompany Kalas to his home planet.
But as Madelyne adjusts to her new life, old doubts linger, and she just cannot understand why someone like her would be worthy of the crown prince.
Madelyne has spent her entire life being told she doesn’t belong, and now Kalas must convince her it’s more than just ‘fate’ that makes him want to claim her as his own.
Beyond Starlight: An Alien Fated Mates Limited Edition Box Set
PUBLISHER: Storyteller Publisher 22, LLC
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/213321174/
GENRE | TROPES: Sci-Fi Romance | Fated Mates
Universal Purchase Link: https://books2read.com/beyondstarlight
To the deepest reaches of the galaxy these warriors will fight to find their fated mates.
When their females find themselves at their lowest point, they will twist the fabrics of existence and everything changes. Their loyalty to each other will be tested by many obstacles, and they will fight or die to be together. Fated mates happen once in a lifetime, but will their bond be strong enough to stay together until the end.
Find out by reading this limited edition box set filled with space, adventure, and fated mates between species never seen before on Earth.
Featuring stories by Diana Dawn, Luna Jade, Kat Parrish, Susanna Eastman, Demelza Carlton, Katrina S.Karter, Danielle Forrest, and Clare Dugmore.
As the new month starts, I have some writing updates for you, as well as some musings on Dragon Age: The Veilgard, and promos from my friends in the writing community. Read on for more...
Greetings readers,
In this issue, I have a bunch of recommendations for you, including books sourced from BookFunnel, and releases from my bookish friends.
Read on for more details...
Greetings Readers!
This edition, I only have one Book Funnel Swap for you, so I thought I'd also offer an update on what I've been working on and any news from me you might have missed.
Keep reading for all the details...
I would like to invite you to help share the cover and pre-order announcement for their forthcoming spicy (multiple, graphic sex scenes) science-fiction romance novel, THE STARLIGHT PRINCE, which is scheduled for release on February 25, 2025.
The cover reveal will take place on November 20, 2024 to capitalize on the release of BEYOND STARLIGHT: AN ALIEN FATED-MATES COLLECTION, which features of the first 25k words of THE STARLIGHT PRINCE.
All information, including graphics for social media, will be sent to participants no later than November 17, 2024.
In addition, I am also looking for those interested in participating in the Release Blitz, Review Blitz and Release Tour ( guest posts, interviews, art share, excerpts etc.) in February to coincide with the release. If you are interested in participating in any of these, there is an option on the form, and further details will be sent to you in due course.
To sign up for any of the above events, please complete the Google Form found here: https://forms.gle/4bLw6C9X19qNCpceA
Your support of me and my books is greatly appreciated.
All comments, questions and concerns can be sent to claredugmore@gmail.com
ABOUT THE STARLIGHT PRINCE
A love story written in the stars.
Hunted for being a witch, Madelyne longs for somewhere to belong and performs a full moon spell to find her true love.
Across the galaxy, Kalas completes the aeons-old celestial ritual to show him the location of his fated mate. Enchanted by Madelyne’s beauty, Kalas flies to Earth to find her.
And, with nothing left for her on Earth, Madelyne agrees to accompany Kalas to his home planet.
But as Madelyne adjusts to her new life, old doubts linger, and she just cannot understand why someone like her would be worthy of the crown prince.
Madelyne has spent her entire life being told she doesn’t belong, and now Kalas must convince her it’s more than just ‘fate’ that makes him want to claim her as his own.
Greetings readers!
This issue, I have a packed email for you, with Writing Updates, Future Plans, Character Art, so read on for all the bookish goodness...
Thank you to everyone who dropped by my blog last week for any of my new weekly content. And thanks to those who dropped by on Monday for Diana Dawn’s guest post.
Last week, I spoke in detail about my author origin story. This week, I want to bring it to the present and talk about my current WIPs.
If you’ve followed me here or on social media for any length of time, you will have heard me talk about two stories: The Starlight Prince and The Adventures of Josain Jovenne.
The Starlight Prince is a science-fiction romance about a witch on Earth, Madelyne, who casts a spell to find her true love. At the same time, across the galaxy, an alien prince, Kalas, takes part in a ritual to find his fated mate and is shown a vision of Maddie. Kalas then travels to Earth to claim his bride.
The first 25k of The Starlight Prince will be released on November 19th as part of the Beyond Starlight: An Alien Fated-Mates Collection, with the complete story coming on February 25th, once the collection is no longer available.
For those who don’t know, I wrote and serialized about 30k of Maddie and Kalas’s story as a paranormal romance under the name Wings, Witches, and Wonder.
In January, I began to feel Wings wasn’t quite the story I wanted to tell, and due to the dopamine-seeking nature of ADHD, I had lost interest in serialization. At the same time, I saw the sign-up form for Beyond Starlight and thought the story I wanted to tell between Maddie and Kalas would work well as a sci-fi romance in that collection.
In both versions of the story, there were some key factors I wanted to preserve. First was my love interest, Kalas. As I mentioned in my previous post, oftentimes, my stories are inspired by celebrities or fictional characters I have a crush on. Last year, when I conceived the idea of a witch ‘awakening’ a man from stone with a magic spell, it was because I’d just finished watching Part Two of Jojo’s Bizarre Adventures, and I was totally in love with the character Kars.
Kalas took on many of Kars’s characteristics, such as long, majestic hair, taloned nails, fangs, and the ability to transform. In Jojo’s Bizarre Adventures, Kars becomes the ultimate being and grows wings. For Kalas, I took it a step further, having him able to transform into both a winged being, similar to a harpy, and then further still into a feathered wyvern.
In making Kalas my own original character, the whole species of Kralians, their planet, and their crow deity Korvarith Thalun was born.
And from that, a second story was born, but more on that in a moment.
I mentioned some key factors from Wings that I wanted to make sure translated over to The Starlight Prince, and one of those factors was Maddie being a witch.
As I mentioned in my previous post, I’ve always had an interest in magical beings and worlds. Since learning more about myself, I have realized why I am drawn to the more fantastical. As I’ve mentioned before (and plan on expanding on in another blog post), reading and writing for me is an escape, and I find it easier to escape into a completely new, magical world. It’s why I like fantasy movies and games too. Fighting dragons or orcs helps me better forget about the true horrors of the real world for a while.
But there’s another reason why I’m drawn to magical characters, specifically witches. Along with fantasy media, I grew up watching the 90’s X-Men animated series, and I’m now an enjoyer of X-Men comics. Mutants in the Marvel Universe, much like witches in many of my stories, are outcasts. They’re hated and feared. They’re ‘othered.’ When I played the game Dragon Age 2, I felt especially drawn to the mage character Anders and his fight against the oppression of mages.
Why?
Since accepting I have autism (and likely ADHD), I’ve been able to identify that I create these ‘outcast’ characters as a projection of myself. I’ve always felt different. Sometimes only a little. Sometimes a lot. Even now, with great friends, an amazing family, and a fantastic hubby, sometimes I feel … I don’t know exactly how to explain it. But I feel ‘not like everyone else.’
This doesn’t bother me as much as it once did, and I revel in my uniqueness, but as a neurodivergent person, who also identifies as queer and non-binary, I still deeply empathize and relate to the marginalized and oppressed. I recognize my privilege compared to others but at the same time acknowledge I am different. And that’s okay.
Marginalized characters find their way into my stories, so I can hopefully make readers think, “Why is Maddie hunted for being a witch? She’s not evil.” And then hopefully, connect my marginalized characters to marginalized people in the real world. If readers can recognize Maddie shouldn’t be hunted for being a witch, hopefully, they can recognize that their neighbour/colleague/random person in the store deserves to be treated fairly even if they are gay/trans/a different religion/a different race, or whatever other asinine reason people have for ‘othering’ those not like them.
I dream of the day Charles Xavier’s vision for the future comes true, and there’s peaceful co-existence between all people.
Maybe I’m an idealist, but it’s better than the alternative…
Anyway, back on track…
As The Starlight Prince and the universe it’s set in grew, I started to think of other stories in the same universe. I wanted to create a ‘reader magnet’ - a short story that introduced the world and characters of The Starlight Prince without spoiling too much of the story.
And thus, The Adventures of Josain Jovenne was born. If you’ve been paying attention, you know that TSP was in part inspired by Jojo’s Bizarre Adventures, so the title of my reader magnet should seem familiar. I couldn’t help myself. There’s always time for a Jojo’s reference. ;)
As well as inspiring my title and main character’s name, another Jojo’s character also inspired the appearance of Josain, with my main character sharing the same green hair and space buns as Jolyne Cujoh.
At first, all I had was a Jolyne-like character, who I instantly knew would be a space adventurer. But I needed more of a story than that. I knew I wanted to show Kralis and hint at the story to come in The Starlight Prince, so I had Josain visit Kralis for Kalas’s coming-of-age ceremony, where he completes the ritual that shows him a vision of Maddie.
But I needed more story than just that, and also wanted my magnet to make it clear to prospective readers that my stories are spicy. As I said, as much as I am drawn to the magical and fantastical, I’m also drawn to romance.
As often happens, while looking for inspiration, I was fixated on another fictional character -- Aemond Targaryen from House of the Dragon. I instantly knew Josain’s love interest had to have long white hair, wear leather, and be a bit of a bad boy. And from that, I conceived the character Savrion.
Savrion quickly became his own person too, especially as I made him a Kralian like Kalas. He has his own unique backstory, and it ties into the main story of The Starlight Prince.
The more I wrote, the more Josain and Savrion told me about themselves until it became clear they’re not just spin-off characters for a short story, but integral supporting characters for The Starlight Prince.
Josain also insisted she isn’t happy starring in just one short story, and demanded she be the star of the short I’m working on for the WH, WN Christmas anthology. However, this story takes place before The Starlight Prince and The Adventures of Josain Jovenne.
Progress on The Starlight Prince is currently on hold, as I can only work on one story at a time. But I already have ~25k written and scheduled to release on November 19. I’m confident I will have the rest of the story finished before the end of the year and ready to release on February 25.
Right now, my main focus is getting The Adventures of Josain Jovenne finished. It was meant to be a quick and simple short to introduce you to Kralis and Kalas, but instead, it’s on 18k words, and I still haven’t finished. I hope to have it complete by the end of July, and I estimate it will be about 28-30k words when finished.
After that, it will be back to work on The Starlight Prince and Josain’s Christmas story… Oh, and did I mention I also signed up to be part of a collection of “PNR & Dark Fantasy Romance Stories featuring a hot MC that falls for a sorcerer/witch?”
I’ve planned a story called ‘The Last Magic Shop,’ but I will tell you more about that some other time. ;)
For now, I’ll leave it here.
If you have any questions about either The Starlight Prince or The Adventures of Josain Jovenne, please feel free to ask in the comments.
And please follow me on social media, as I share teasers and tidbits from both stories, as well as other fun bookish things, and snippets of my non-writing life.
Until next time,
Take care and stay creative,
T.T.F.N
As some of you may recall, I was serializing a paranormal romance called WINGS, WITCHES AND WONDER, but I felt the first draft wasn't quite where I wanted it to be, so I pulled it from Ream and other platforms.
At the same time, I heard of Beyond Starlight: An Alien Fated Mates Limited Edition Box Set brought to you by Storyteller Publisher 22, and knew with a little tweaking, the story I wanted to tell in WINGS, WITCHES AND WONDER would work perfectly for a sci-fi romance. Thus THE STARLIGHT PRINCE was born.
The first 30k * of THE STARLIGHT PRINCE will be released on November 19th, as part of the Beyond Starlight: An Alien Fated Mates Limited Edition Box Set.
*More news on the remaining ~60k of THE STARLIGHT PRINCE will be coming in due course.
Beyond Starlight will feature nine other awesome authors, and we'd love your help spreading the word about the box set. If you're interested in all the good things like cover reveals, release blitz and ARC sign-ups, all the information can be found on this helpful DS Book Promotions Google form.
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSc60vLz_6pVs93YgNcqKzvOthGU1X-pdzcUy4L8NwDoHH5gcA/viewform
Thank you in advance to anyone who signs up to help spread the word in any way, and watch this space for more news about both Beyond Starlight, and my story, The Starlight Prince.
